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Siting your nest box
The best height for your nest box is widely accepted as being between 1.5m and 5.5m high (5ft - 18ft respectively). However, if your area has a particularly high cat population it is best to site your box even higher.
If you only have an exposed site to offer, face the box to avoid prevailing winds and strong sunlight. If siting in wooded area, the dry side of the tree trunk offers the most protection. By their nature, Open nest boxes require more cover; siting them near to climbing plants where they can be partially obscured is ideal. Siting your nest box near vegetation also aids young birds taking their first flights as it gives them both physical support and good cover.
Although you may want to see your new nest box used immediately, this is actually quite rare.
Birds like to 'check them out' first to become accustomed to them and to ensure that they are suitable. Don't give up though as the sight of newly fledged chicks is well worth the wait! Nest boxes erected before the breeding season begins are therefore more likely to be used.
Hygiene
Cleaning the boxes out at the end of each breeding season will encourage them to be used again in future years. As the nesting time of birds varies from species to species we suggest you wait until May when the last of the birds will have left. The nest may come out easily but if there are any deposits scrape them out, minding the dust as you go. We recommend using hot water rather than chemicals to remove any parasites that remain.
Which nest box?
Our nest boxes come in a range of shapes and sizes to suit the needs of different species. The hole size is the main way of determining the species you will attract to your box.
If you only have an exposed site to offer, face the box to avoid prevailing winds and strong sunlight. If siting in wooded area, the dry side of the tree trunk offers the most protection. By their nature, Open nest boxes require more cover; siting them near to climbing plants where they can be partially obscured is ideal. Siting your nest box near vegetation also aids young birds taking their first flights as it gives them both physical support and good cover.
Although you may want to see your new nest box used immediately, this is actually quite rare.
Birds like to 'check them out' first to become accustomed to them and to ensure that they are suitable. Don't give up though as the sight of newly fledged chicks is well worth the wait! Nest boxes erected before the breeding season begins are therefore more likely to be used.
Hygiene
Cleaning the boxes out at the end of each breeding season will encourage them to be used again in future years. As the nesting time of birds varies from species to species we suggest you wait until May when the last of the birds will have left. The nest may come out easily but if there are any deposits scrape them out, minding the dust as you go. We recommend using hot water rather than chemicals to remove any parasites that remain.
Which nest box?
Our nest boxes come in a range of shapes and sizes to suit the needs of different species. The hole size is the main way of determining the species you will attract to your box.